Xbox One's Launch Parity Clause Is Pretty Much Over

Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has said the infamous parity clause that affected the Xbox One is no longer in effect.

Back in 2013 a parity clause on the Xbox One stated that independent games could not be released on the console after other systems. Through the well remembered flip flopping the Xbox One did, these restrictions were later loosened, and now it appears they’ve disappeared altogether.

Spencer talked to Edge on the subject of the clause and its current status, saying that, “I think so. There’s this idea that’s been named ‘parity clause,’ but there is no clause… If there’s a developer who’s building a game and they just can’t get the game done for both platforms–cool. We’ll take a staggered release. We’ve done it before, and we’ll work with them on that.”

“If another platform does a deal with you as a developer to build an exclusive version of your game for them, and you can’t ship on my platform for a year, when the game comes out in a year let’s just work together to make it special in some way,” he explained. “People complained about that, but you did a deal with somebody else and you got paid for it and I’m happy–we do those same deals, so I’m not knocking you. It’s going to be better for you, actually, because people don’t want last year’s game, they want something special and new.”

Spencer mentioned, in an interview with Gamespot in March, that Microsoft were loosening their restrictions and working closer with developers to help bring more games to the system.

The clause drew a lot of criticism from developers, and Microsoft did recognize the problems that such an issue would cause with indie developers on the console. Despite this though games such as Outlast, which have enjoyed a healthy release on PS4 and PC, launched on the Xbox One last year.

Did you hate this clause? How do you think it affected the starting life of the Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.